JIYOUNG SIM- What I love about traveling in Spain is that every part of this country has something unique about it. Every part of Spain I have visited made a different impression from the others. This time I went to the northern part of Spain. I have heard from so many people that the northern part is amazingly beautiful so I really wanted to visit there. So on a weekend I went to San Sebastián with my friend.
The transportation to San Sebastián is not so great. You can take a flight but it is very expensive, so I recommend taking a train or a bus. It takes more than 5 hours even by train. One good way to save your time and money is to take a night bus but we did not want to tire ourselves too much before the trip so we decided to take train. If you plan to take a train to San Sebastián, remember that the trains departs from Chamartín Station, not Atocha. We were confused with that and we missed the train, so we had to change our tickets and take the next one.
When we first got to San Sebastián, we were surprised because it looked and felt so different from any other part of Spain. It does not necessarily look like what we think of typical Spain. I almost felt like we were in another part of Europe. It looked a little like Amsterdam when I first stepped out of the train station. One thing that is great about San Sebastián is that the city is very small so everything is within walking distance. Not only can you save transportation money but you can also enjoy the beautiful city while walking through it. The two parts I liked the most in San Sebastián are the old town and the beach. The old town has beautiful buildings and it is nice to have a walk through the old buildings of the town. The beach of San Sebastián is very beautiful. It is very different from other beaches. While Malagueta beach was great for sunbathing, the Playa de la Concha in San Sebastián was great for enjoying the scenery while walking along the beachside.

Jiyoung Sim, Skidmore in Madrid

In San Sebastián, you can also find a lot of good food. There are “pintxos” bars everywhere. Pintxos are like tapas in the northern Spain. It is fun to try different food at different bars. We were there during a weekend so all the bars were crowded. The price in general in San Sebastian is quite expensive compared to other parts of Spain. We had dinner at a pintxos bar and I was surprised that we spent more than 20 euros each just for a dinner at a tapas bar. As always, to give you a recommendation, I really liked the cheese cake at La Viña. So on your way back to your room after dinner, take out a piece of cheese cake and enjoy it with a glass of wine!